


Double Vision; First Kiss

by phonecallfromgod



Category: The Social Network (2010)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mistaken Identity, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:55:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23499379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phonecallfromgod/pseuds/phonecallfromgod
Summary: Cameron’s pretty sure that Divya’s never going to be able to tell him and Tyler apart one hundred percent of the time and he’s just going to have to make peace with that.OrFive times Divya thought Cameron was Tyler (and one time he didn't)
Relationships: Divya Narendra & Cameron Winklevoss & Tyler Winklevoss, Divya Narendra/Cameron Winklevoss
Comments: 15
Kudos: 57





	Double Vision; First Kiss

**1.**

“Hey, oh my god what the _fuck_ was that final?”

Cameron looks up from his lunch. “Excuse me?” 

“I _know_ ,” the guy says, dropping down into the seat beside Cameron. “What did you say for that weird essay question at the end? I was just pulling stuff out of my ass about Turner and Western Hegemony.” 

Cameron sighs internally. Okay, so this dude is definitely in Tyler’s anthro class. Awesome. It doesn’t matter how many times he gets confused for Tyler, it’s always weird. Especially when it’s some guy who is talking a mile a minute about an exam you didn’t take and not leaving any breathing room for you to politely point out that you’re not who they think you are. 

Tyler always acts like Cameron’s so melodramatic about it, but it really sucks to have a person’s first impression of you be you interrupting, correcting, and potentially embarrassing them. 

So yeah, sometimes he just doesn’t correct them right away, sue him. 

“—So yeah I felt pretty good about the short answer though. The multiple choice might be a bit of a mess, how’re you feeling? I know you got like no fucking sleep because of _Wayne_ so.” The guy says, finally arriving at a pause, offering Cameron the crucial piece of information he needed to reverse engineer who exactly this dude is. 

“Hi, sorry, are you Divya?” 

The guy blinks at him for a second, and Cameron’s about to elaborate when he cocks his head and says, “Oh you’re the _twin_ , right?” 

Cameron closes his mouth, pauses, debates if he’s offended, then says, “Yeah, I’m Cameron.” 

“Wow,” Divya says, eyebrows shooting up. “That is. Freaky.” 

“Sorry?” 

“No, I’ve heard a lot about you, I just. I did not expect you to be _this_ ,” Divya waves a hand, “Much.” 

“We’re identical.” 

“Well yeah, but I’ve met identical twins before. You guys are like. Clone level,” Divya says, and then, “No offense.” 

“I can pass on a message to Tyler if you want,” Cameron says diplomatically. 

Divya waves a hand. “No that’s fine, I basically live next door to him I’ll see him later. I’m Divya Narendra, by the way.” 

Cameron did know that, knew who Divya was in the first place on virtue of him living on the other side of Tyler’s obnoxious next door dorm neighbour, which made him a brother-in-arms against the near constant loud Christian Country music. 

“Alright, well, uh, I’ll see you around maybe?” Cameron offers. He’s used to people thinking they need to politely stick around after the big reveal, so he’s gotten good at giving them an out. Making them feel like they’re not indebted to him just because they thought they were saddling up for a conversation with his brother. 

“Oh,” Divya says. “Sure okay,” pushing up his shirt sleeves and grabbing his tray. 

Normally Cameron would feel relieved, but something about the whole thing failed so much to fall into the predictable pattern of these kinds of interactions — Cameron’s never had someone _scold_ him for looking too much like Tyler before — that he feels off kilter and weird about it for the rest of the day. 

Whatever, it’ll be fine. He’ll probably never see Divya again anyways. 

**2.**

Cameron has only ever once intentionally pretended to be Tyler, and it backfired so spectacularly that he swore to himself that he’d never do it again. It’s a very long story involving homecoming, egging a house, and a summer job, but the moral of it is that Cameron shouldn’t ever _ever_ do it again. 

Which does not explain why he is currently pretending to be Tyler by omission right now while helping Divya carry groceries up to his dorm. 

And look, alright sure, maybe he shouldn’t have been borrowing Tyler’s car without asking in the first place, but Tyler almost always says yes anyways, and he didn’t expect Divya to be _right there_ unloading groceries from a cab when he pulled back into the dorm lot. 

“Hey!” Divya called. “Come help me. Put those muscles to good use for once!” 

And even if Cameron hadn’t been literally getting out of Tyler’s car he would have known immediately that Divya thought he was his brother. Ever since the lunch meeting snafu, Divya has always been strangely formal whenever he’s around Cameron. Not in a bad way, necessarily, but there’s not that easy camaraderie that Divya has with Tyler. The playful push and pull that straight guys can just have together without having to try too hard. 

“You still wanna do wing night?” Divya says, more out of breath than he really should be for carrying two ten-pound bags up three flights of stairs, and Cameron is almost endeared. 

“Uh, sure,” Cameron says, trying to pitch his voice just a little bit to sound more like Tyler. “Check in again with me before you go.” 

“Do you think Cameron might come?” Divya asks, turning off the stairwell into their hall and there’s this tone to his voice Cameron can’t totally place. Hesitation? “Or maybe that’s a bad idea?” 

“Why?” Cameron asks, even though he really, _really_ , shouldn’t. It’s one thing to lie by omission, it’s another to keep up a ruse, it’s _another_ another thing to dig into information about himself that only Tyler was supposed to know. 

Divya puts one of his bags down so he can jostle the room door open. “I don’t know if absolutely destroying several pounds of wings in front of your brother is going to help the situation.” 

“The situation?” Cameron repeats, more for his own benefit than anything else, but Divya just makes a face and heaves the bag into his arms. 

“Yeah, the situation, don’t be obtuse.” 

“Right,” Cameron says, and thinks maybe that’s the universe giving him an out. 

“‘Sup,” Divya says to his roommate who’s lying on his bed, a pair of headphones on and a walkman on his stomach. 

“‘Sup,” the roommate says back and then nods at Cameron. “How’s it hanging Ty?” 

“Uhh,” Cameron says, because answering feels like crossing an even worse line than the one’s he’s already crossed. 

“Are you _still_ listening to that mixtape?” Divya says, gesturing for the bags that Cameron’s been carrying until he puts them down. “You’re such a sap.” 

“Leave me alone, I’m in love,” the roommate whines, throwing an arm over his eyes. Cameron tries in vain to remember what his name is. Something with a T, he’s pretty sure. He can ask Tyler later. 

Divya makes bemused eye contact with Cameron before going back to putting stuff in the overly packed mini fridge. “Alright, you’re released from your duties. I know you probably have flash cards to make or heavy things to pick up or whatever.” 

“Ha,” Cameron huffs, and is ready to make a quick escape, drop Tyler’s keys off back in his dorm, make sure _his_ roommate keeps his mouth shut if he’s around and get back to his dorm before this all blows up in his face. 

And then Divya leans out his dorm door. “Psst, Winklevoss.” 

Cameron fumbles, drops his keys, and Divya laughs. “On second thought, you should definitely invite Cameron.” 

“Yeah?” 

“Yeah,” Divya says, and then smiles this smile that makes Cameron’s kind of glad he doesn’t have anything in his hands. “It’ll be really fun.” 

**3.**

Cameron’s pretty sure that Divya’s never going to be able to tell him and Tyler apart one hundred percent of the time and he’s just going to have to make peace with that. 

It doesn’t help either that Tyler seems to get a tremendous kick out of it. 

“It’s not that it doesn’t happen all the time,” Tyler would placate, “It’s just that no one else does it with such _confidence_.” 

Which is true, Cameron’s pretty used to the hesitant fumbling that happens when someone isn’t quite sure which twin they’re talking to, but Divya will just storm head first into a conversation on the assumption that Cameron is Tyler and doesn’t even seem particularly phased when he finds out his assumption is wrong. 

Cameron can’t even count the number of times that Divya has gotten midway through a tangent directed at him, only for Tyler to lazily wave at him and for Divya to pivot his attention without missing a beat. 

It’s a bit intense, but Divya’s a bit of an intense person, so Cameron figures he shouldn’t read too much into it. 

He’s not exactly sure what’s shifted but it finally feels like Divya’s his actual friend now, and not just someone Divya puts up with in order to hang out with Tyler. Which is great, Cameron thinks Divya is really smart and bitingly funny, and it’s rare that they find a person who can slot well enough between his and Tyler’s, admittedly pretty intense, dynamic. 

Divya is so not the problem. 

It’s that Tyler has started to exploit the fact that Divya still can’t tell them apart. That's the problem. 

Which is why Divya is currently eying him with intense suspicion while Cameron tries to do his accounting homework. 

“Div, for the last time, I promise I’m Cameron.” 

“Hmm,” Divya says, unconvinced. “That’s what you said last time asshole.” 

“ _I_ didn’t say that— whatever,” Cameron says, going back to his homework. “This is useless, let’s just wait until Tyler gets here.” 

“Yeah, that’s what you said last time and then Cameron showed up, I’m on to your games. Why are you wearing Tyler’s sweater?” 

“I _told_ you already, I borrowed Tyler’s because I just did laundry and forgot to bring a clean sweater to practice.” 

“Uh-huh, a likely story.” 

Tyler is _so_ getting a lecture about gaslighting their friend after this. 

“How is the fact that I’ve been writing with my left hand for the last hour not convincing you, you think Tyler would put that much effort into a Disney Channel level prank?” 

Divya considers this for a moment. “I mean. Probably not.” 

“So….?” 

“So you’re probably Cameron but dude, honestly, I don’t know,” Divya says deflating back into his chair. “It’s freaky, I really am trying and sometimes I’m so sure and then one of you is not who you’re supposed to be and just. Ugh. I’m just a shit friend.”

“You’re not a shit friend,” Cameron says, and Divya looks skeptical. “Dude, no, I swear you’re not. You’re trying a lot harder than most people do. Like we have family members who can barely tell us apart.” 

“I guess,” Divya says, frowning. Cameron gets the feeling that Divya’s not the kind of person who’s used to being bad at anything, let alone something he’s really trying at. 

Takes one to know one, Cam supposes. 

Tyler shows up twenty minutes later in the grody Patriot’s sweater that their mom used to literally have to steal out of his room to get professionally cleaned. Which is, on sight, enough to convince Divya that Cameron was telling the truth the whole time. 

“God, it really is the gift that keeps on giving,” Tyler says smugly. “I’ve only done that what, like twice?” 

“Dude, you gotta knock it off,” Cameron says.

“Don’t get your panties in a twist,” Tyler says, kicking at him under the table. “I just said I only did it twice. Besides, it’s helping Divya get better at telling us apart.” 

“Is it?” Divya says, not looking up from his homework. “Oh well huzzah I guess you being a _douchebag_ was for my benefit this whole time.” 

It’s sharp but Tyler just laughs. “Alright, alright, I get the message. I’ll stop.” 

“You know,” Camerons says later, walking Divya back to his dorm. “We could always try a code or something.” 

“A code?” 

“Yeah,” Cameron stuffs his hands further into his pockets, even though it’s not really that cold. “So you’d always know if it was really me. Just something subtle.” 

“What like, blink out ‘I Am Cam’ in morse code or something?” 

“Well maybe not that, but.” 

Divya laughs. “You’re sweet to offer, but I think Tyler might kind of have a point. I just need to figure it out.” 

“Anything I can do to help?” Cameron offers, mostly on reflex. They’re just outside Divya’s dorm now, and Divya considers for a moment before putting a firm hand on Cameron’s upper arm. 

“Yes actually, stay there for a second,” Divya says, and then stands on the first step of the building, making them roughly eye level. “Just let me—” 

There’s a good three feet of space between them, like middle schoolers at a dance, and Cameron’s lips twitch into what is probably more a smirk than a smile as Divya surveys him very seriously. 

“Do you think this will really—” 

“Shhh,” Divya says, eyes incredibly intense, and Cameron can practically feel where his gaze runs over his face over and over. He’d been meeting his eye because, as anyone who’s ever been to any business seminar ever can tell you, eye contact is key, but it’s starting to feel almost wrong, so Cameron shifts his gaze. He studies Divya’s left ear, the mole on the side of his face, the smaller, fainter freckles just under his eye. It feels safer somehow, gentler. Divya’s looking at him, so it’s only fair that he look back, right? 

“Okay,” Divya says, tapping Cameron gently on both of his upper arms at the same time, “I’m done.” 

“Did that help?” 

“I don’t know. Maybe.” 

Cameron doesn’t know how to say it without it coming out horrifically stupid and dull sounding, but it does sort of feel like that did something. That something _happened_. 

Or maybe he just spends a lot of time trying not to look at guys too long that it feels like a big deal to be given permission to do it. 

“Well, happy to help,” he says, lamely. 

“I know,” Divya says, turning to go, “That’s the easiest way to tell it’s you, Cam. You’re always happy to help.” 

Cameron’s heart stutters and trips, like missing the last step in a flight of stairs, going careening through a sudden void for a terrifying second before your balance comes back and it seems ridiculous that you felt that off-kilter over practically nothing. 

It’s nothing. 

Practically. 

**4.**

Ever since Cameron can remember Tyler’s been a sympathy vomiter. They literally used to have to move Cameron into a different bedroom if he had a stomach bug, lest he trigger Tyler throwing up all over the place for no reason. Their mom used to say it was because of their twin connection, but as they got older it became increasingly clear that it wasn’t a special connection with Cameron that made it happen, just a weak stomach. 

So, when they’re getting absolutely fucking plastered to celebrate the end of their first year at Harvard, Cameron knows he’s going to be the one to go after him when Divya suddenly bolts out of his dorm room. 

They’d been having a perfectly good conversation; 

(“Do you ever think about the fact that in a lot of fonts a capital ‘I’ and a lowercase ‘L’ look like, exactly the same,” Divya said. “Wouldn’t it save us all a lot of time if we just typed L’s for I’s?”

“Dude. That is a _good_ fucking point,” Tyler said.) 

“Shit,” Tyler says, looking a little green at the thought and Cameron rummages under his desk for his trash bin. 

“Don’t,” Cameron says very eloquently, shoving it into Tyler’s hands and then clambering to his feet, grabbing at his bed for balance. He’s not exceptionally drunk in the grand scheme of things, but he’s still less. Together, then he’d like to be. That was part of the reason why Cam had insisted they do this at his dorm in the first place, so he didn’t have to go staggering home across campus. Plus his roommate’s already packed up and left and none of _his_ neighbours play Christian Country until 3 am.

“I’ll be back,” Cameron says, grabbing water from his fridge and some mouthwash, before following after Divya to the co-ed bathroom. “Di—” he starts, and before hearing the sound of someone profusely vomiting. 

Divya didn’t lock the stall door, so Cameron inches it open with his foot. “Hey buddy.” 

“I’m going to die here,” Divya moans, fumbling a few times for the flush before he finds it. 

“I’m just gonna…” He drifts off, starting to slump onto the floor before pausing. “Nope, okay, fuck,” Divya says, and then he’s throwing up again. 

“You’re okay,” Cameron says, reaching over to rub his back. “You’re okay.” He just keeps saying it over and over again, because somehow it feels like it’s helping. 

Divya finally slumps down onto the floor for real. “Okay, just leave me to die Ty, jus’ leave me to die.” 

Oh. Alright. 

Logically Cameron knows the following facts: 1. Divya is very drunk, 2. Divya is closer with Tyler, and 3. On occasion Divya will mix them up (though it has been happening at a lower and lower rate over the semester). 

He knows those things, all perfectly good explanations of why Divya thought he was Tyler. 

Even still, it sucks. 

“You’re not going to die,” Cameron says. “But maybe you should crash here tonight.” 

Divya whines, eyes scrunched shut and cheek pressed into the tile of the bathroom which, is not sanitary. “Nooooo.”

“There’s an empty bed, it’ll be fine.” 

“It’s fine cause I’m going to die here,” Divya says, mostly muffled. 

“Div,” Cameron says halfheartedly, getting up out of a crouch to get him the water he’d left on the bathroom sink counter. 

“I can’t, ‘cause Cam,” Divya slurs. 

“Because of Cam?” Cameron freezes. 

“‘S gonna think I’m so stupid,” Divya says mostly to the floor. “Such an idiot.” 

“What?” And listen, Cameron knows trying to pump info out of a very drunk person is not going to yield the best results, even in a situation where you’re not kinda sorta pretending to be someone else. But despite what people say about him, Cameron is not some kind of robot, he’s a fallible human person being told that one of his friends thinks that he thinks he’s an idiot. 

He doesn’t just have a horse in this race, every single one is his. 

“Why do you think that,” Cam asks, so quick he can blame it on impulse. 

“Cause it’s _true_ ,” Divya says, heaving himself into a sitting position, and for a terrifying second Cameron thinks he’s going to throw up again. He looks awful, eyes all wet-rimmed and his hair all deflated on one side from where it was pressed against the floor. 

Cameron has this absolutely insane impulse to just bundle him into his arms and carry him back to the empty bed in his dorm. Divya would absolutely hate that, but Cam mostly doesn’t care. Wants to take care of him, whether Divya likes it or not. 

“Here,” Cameron says instead, handing him the water bottle. “Tiny sips.” 

Divya nods over and over again, wiping at his face with his forearm before taking a sip. 

“You don’t really think that?” Cameron asks, because he knows he shouldn’t. 

“Hmm? 

“That— that he thinks you’re dumb.” 

Divya shrugs, shoulders bunching up around his ears before flopping back down, “Maybe.” 

“Well he doesn’t,” Cameron says, unscrewing the cap on the mouthwash and then screwing it back on just to have something to do with his hands. 

“Takes one to know one,” Divya murmurs, and then starts grabbing for Cameron who practically has to drop the mouthwash before Divya just throws himself forward onto the floor in an attempt to get up. It’s a few false starts, but he manages to get Divya up and leaned against the counter full of sinks. 

“Here, just swish don’t gargle,” Cam says, pouring a very small amount of mouthwash and some water into one of the disposable paper cups they keep stacked in the bathroom. 

“Shots,” Divya says, eyes totally unfocused. But he does what Cam says, grabbing both sides of the sink to keep his balance when he spits into the sink. Their eyes meet for a brief second in the mirror and Cameron looks away. 

Everytime he thinks he has Divya figured out, everytime he thinks he’s cracked the code to their dynamic, suddenly there’s something else. There’s always something else. 

He’s expecting getting Divya back to the room to be a big hassle, but honestly, Divya is so far gone he’s basically just clinging to Cameron all the way back, and goes easily into Jayson’s empty bed without Cameron having to do any additional persuading. 

“God he’s fucked,” Tyler says, cocky now that the threat of a sympathetic puke is no longer imminent.

“Fuck you,” Divya mutters, eyes firmly shut. 

“Lookit us making friends,” Tyler says. “Mom would be so proud.” 

Cameron snorts but accepts the hug that Tyler offers, thumping him on the back once. “Okay Imma ‘bout to chug this gatorade and then head out.” 

“Drink your own,” Cam says halfheartedly, but makes no effort to stop Tyler from rummaging around in his fridge. 

“They’re so cute when they’re asleep,” Tyler coos, cracking open his stolen gatorade while Divya lazily kicks at him. 

“I’m not asleep, ‘m resting my eyes,” he flips over onto his back, cracking one eye open to look blearily at Tyler. “So not fair, how’re you more fine?” 

“Uh cause I’m six five,” Tyler says, flexing. 

“I hate you,” Divya says, flinging an arm over his eyes. 

“No you don’t,” Tyler says cheerfully, and then very nearly trips over absolutely nothing and Cameron has to reach out and grab him before he goes sprawling into his floating shelf. 

“Okay either leave or sit down before you destroy my dorm,” Cameron says, and Tyler opts to do the former, still chugging his stolen gatorade as he leaves. 

“Divya?” Cam says, unsure if he’s still awake. 

“Mrmm?” Divya hums sleepily, and Cameron was going to ask him to take his shoes off, but honestly it’s probably just easier at this point for him to take the initiative and do it himself. He fumbles a bit on the laces, but gets them off easy enough, setting them on the floor beside Jayson’s bed. 

Cameron pulls his fleece crew blanket from high school off a shelf, draping it over Divya, who immediately pulls his socked feet up under it. Cam is absolutely not charmed. 

“Night Cam,” Divya murmurs, mostly asleep, and yet somehow still getting it right when it mattered. 

**5.**

Maybe it sounds weird that Cameron got closer to Divya in three months of not seeing him than he’d managed to in the previous ten months, but Cam’s happy enough about it that he’s not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. 

It happens because he’s headed back to Connecticut for a summer job working for a friend of his father’s, Tyler and Divya staying in Cambridge together and splitting a sublet in an attic apartment where Cameron hadn’t even been able to stand up straight in most of the rooms. 

“It’ll be fine,” Tyler had waved him off when Cameron had pointed this out, “A small sacrifice to make for Bros Summer.” 

Capital B, capital S, Bros Summer, which Cameron knew because Divya always capitalized it in his emails. 

Emailing Divya had started mostly as a solution to a necessary problem, which was that spending a lot of time with your twin brother by necessity of living in the same place, going to the same school, and spending five hours a day training didn’t make for excellent long-distance communication skills. 

It’s not as if Cameron didn’t _try_ to keep in touch with his brother. Tyler called their mom at least once a week, so when he’d first moved home Cameron made a concerted effort to be around when he did so he could tag on to their mother-son calls. Though the moment he got the phone to his ear Cameron suddenly couldn’t remember a single thing he’d ever done in his life worth telling Tyler about, and it must be a twin thing because Tyler would likewise be awkward and dull on the phone in a way he never was in real life. 

Divya had always been good at mediating between the two of them, which is why it was a genuine lifesaver when he started emailing Cameron updates about Bros Summer, sometimes with photo attachments. Photographic evidence. 

_Cameron,_

_Tyler has decided to take up cooking because he finally got sick of ramen and grilled cheese. I’d admire that more if we weren’t going to lose the deposit over where he got a metal spatula stuck in the kitchen wall. I was here to witness it and yet I still could not tell you how it happened._

_Sorry your dad was being weird, but I guess it’s cool that he was trying to be supportive about you having a boyfriend (though if you ever went out with a guy named Chet I think it would be my duty as your friend to take you out. They’d call it a mercy killing)_

_Divya_

_Cameron,_

_I don’t want to alarm you but there seems to be a not zero chance that our apartment is haunted. Stuff keeps getting moved around and Tyler swears up and down he doesn’t sleepwalk. Can you confirm or deny?_

_If I don’t make it out of this summer alive you can have my box fan, my spice rack, and the secret snacks in my room that Tyler doesn’t know about._

_Divya_

_Cameron,_

_Tyler just dropped the fact that you guys have a pool at home, it’s so hot here I’m debating hitchhiking to Connecticut. Leave the key under the mat I’ll just let myself in._

_Divya_

_Cam,_

_Still hot as balls here, Tyler seems to think that means a lot of clothing is optional. Trying to convince him to put a little kiddie pool on that flat part of the roof. Will update you if I am successful in my persuasion._

_Divya_

_Cam,_

_SUCCESS! (See attachment)_

_Div_

It’s a scan of photo, Tyler presumably behind the camera as Divya looks very smug sitting in a bright pink kiddie pool, beer in one hand like he’s toasting the camera. He’s wearing a pair of sunglasses Cameron is pretty sure belong to Tyler and no shirt. Which of course he’s not going to wear a shirt in a pool, that’s kind of the whole point. He has less chest hair than Cameron would have expected. 

Not that he. Not that Cameron’s been thinking about. Not that Cameron’s been thinking about the amount of body hair Divya does or doesn’t have on various parts of his body. Just in the moment it somehow seems different than he would have thought if he’d been thinking about it which he wasn’t. 

Cameron closes the attachment and forces himself to stop thinking about it, like he’s fifteen again and keeping his eyes fixed on a spot on the wall while he changes after crew practice. It’s fine, everything’s fine, Divya sent him the photo, he wouldn’t have sent it if he wasn’t alright with Cameron seeing it. 

He resists the urge to delete the email, because that seems like an admission of something, especially when every other email Divya’s set him all summer lives in a special folder that he has a tendency to revisit when things get slow at work.

It’s fine. Everything’s fine. 

He mostly stops thinking about it by the next morning when he gets yet another update from Divya involving Tyler’s misadventures with trying to add a grill to their attempted rooftop patio. It helps that Divya’s not in the photo. 

He just misses him. That’s it. That’s all. 

Which is probably why Cameron answers the phone when the ringer wakes him up at 2:45 am when he sees Divya’s name on the caller ID. 

“M’lo?” Cameron says, forcing himself awake. “Divya?” 

“Hey!” Divya says loudly, Cameron can hear the heavy thudding bassline of loud music in the background. “Where are you?” 

Cameron blinks, because despite his best efforts he’s still mostly asleep. “What?” 

“I went outside cause stuff was going very fast with that guy, and I just went back in and I couldn’t find you anywhere?” 

“Back where?” 

“Into the club, Jesus, how much did you have? I thought you were supposed to be my security detail.” 

Cameron realizes suddenly what’s happened, and he’s going to blame the fact that he just woke up for not putting it together sooner. Divya meant to call Tyler. 

He knows he’s just being petty but he can’t lie, he’s a little bit disappointed. 

“Divya I—” Cameron starts, but Divya is already steamrolling ahead. 

“And don’t get all pissy about it, it was fine I’m just. It’s new and we’re doing baby steps Ty.” 

“Okay, but Divya—” 

“I know, I know, keep an open mind. Believe me. I am. And I’m totally grateful for you— for you doing this for me. And for not freaking out when I told you.”

“Divya—” 

“Though I guess like. After what happened with Cam, maybe it’s not a big deal? Or as big of a deal?” 

Cameron’s only been half listening, focusing on trying to find a good pause to insert the phrase ‘I am not Tyler, I’m Cameron,’ but that all seems very very inconsequential suddenly. 

“Cam?” He repeats stupidly. 

“Yeah,” Divya says, and then exhales heavily on the line. “Also, hey um. Can we maybe just keep this between us for a while? I’m sure he’d be cool about it, but I don’t want to make anything awkward.” 

“Why would it be awkward?” Cameron asks. He doesn’t even know what _it_ is, but he can’t help himself. Everything had gotten so good and easy between him and Divya this summer, or he’d thought it had at least. 

“I just think there’s sort of an assumption maybe?” Divya says. “Just because—” 

“Because?” Cameron prompts. 

“—Oh _there_ you are fucker! Okay what the fuck I’ll be right there,” and then he hangs

up. 

Cameron keeps the phone to his ear for a long minute after that, trying to breathe. _It’s fine, it’s fine, you don’t know anything, it doesn’t mean anything_ he chides himself over and over and over. 

The whole exchange congeals into this horrible knot in the centre of his chest for weeks. Not something he thinks about all the time, but something that’s always there, ready to be prodded back into inflammation at any given time. 

It doesn’t go away until the moment Cameron’s standing on the front steps in his bare feet and Divya comes barreling out of Tyler’s BMW, practically flinging himself off the ground and into Cam, who catches him easily. Divya’s feet coming off the pavement for a dizzying moment and Cameron sets him back down quickly. 

“God I fucking missed you, don’t leave me alone with Tyler ever again I almost died like

twelve times,” Divya says as he lets go, and then blinks at him. “Oh. Holy shit.” 

“What?” Cameron asks. 

“You did not you big liar, you almost died _maybe_ twice. You almost got severely injured ten or so times. Let’s be accurate please,” Tyler says, carrying a jam packed laundry hamper, never one to let the opportunity of a weekend trip home go to waste. 

Divya whirls on his heel looking back at Tyler, and then again at Cam. “You guys are— You don’t look the same. What the hell?” 

“Dude!” Tyler says. “See I told you.”

“Whoa, that’s. Alright,” Divya says, looking a little out of it. 

Cameron bites the inside of his cheek. “Is that bad?” 

Divya makes a face at him. “No it’s going to make my life one hundred times easier.” 

“Oh. Alright. That’s good then,” Cameron nods. 

Divya grins at him like he’s just said something very endearing. “Hi Cam.” 

“Hello Divya,” Cameron says, and for the first time in weeks the knot in his chest is entirely gone.

Cameron folds about the phone call within a week of being back at Harvard. Despite Tyler’s radical insistence that they don’t live together freshman year, he’d been weirdly insistent that they should live together for sophomore year. As if Cameron was some kind of omen that would ward off loud Christian Country music from drifting through the walls.

He debated just letting the whole thing go, after all, nothing had felt off between him and Divya since they’d reunited. If anything, things were better now. Still, Cam hates the idea that there’s something between them despite the newfound closeness. So he bites the bullet and asks Tyler about it. 

“Uhhhhh,” Tyler says. “When was this?” 

“Early August. You were at a club. Or a house party? It was loud either way. I don’t remember.” 

Tyler blusters. “Hmmm, uhhhh, no. Nope. Can’t think of anything.” 

He’s not a very good liar, or maybe Cameron just knows all his tells, so he just raises his eyebrows at Tyler until he cracks. 

“Okay fine, fine,” Tyler says. “Stop it with the Jedi mind tricks. We broke your blender. It was an accident, I’m sorry.” 

Cameron squints at him. “My blender’s in the cupboard.” 

Tyler sighs. “We got you a replacement one. We scuffed it up so it matched the old one.” 

“Bullshit.” 

“It was Divya’s idea. We figured you wouldn’t notice but…Dude what are you doing?” 

“There’s no way,” Cameron says, mostly to himself as he digs his blender out of the cupboard, looking exactly like it had when he’d left it with Tyler in May. “Are you messing with me?” 

Tyler shakes his head, “I swear. It was so hot we were making a lot of smoothies and she just,” he makes a little explosion gesture with his hands, “couldn’t take it anymore.” 

There’s a knock at the door and Cameron’s still crouched holding his blender as Tyler lets Divya in. 

“Uh, hi,” Divya says, darting a glance over at Cameron. “What’s going on?” 

“I had to come clean to Cam about the blender,” Tyler says. “Sorry bro.” 

“Dude!” Divya chides. “What the hell. Cam did he mention that it was totally hit fault and that I was just a witness? Because it was totally his fault.”

“Um, excuse me who was the one who committed to the decoy blender plot in the first place?” Tyler shoots back. “You practically told me where to bury the body, you’re an accessory.” 

Cameron puts the blender back as Tyler and Divya continue to back-and-forth. He still feels off about the whole thing, but he can’t really press any further about it with Divya in the room. Besides, maybe this was just the universe trying to tell him to stop prying. If Divya has something he wants to tell Tyler and not him, well, that sucks a little bit, but that’s perfectly within his rights to do. 

“Hey,” Divya says a while later, tapping Cameron on the leg. “Are you okay?” 

“Of course.” 

“I really am sorry. About the blender.” 

“It’s okay, seriously. Besides, you got me a new one and I didn’t even notice.” 

“Welcome to my world,” Divya says, extremely pleased with himself, eyes crinkling. 

The knot in the centre of Cameron’s chest is back, but this time it’s something entirely different. 

**+1.**

Tyler comes banging into the boathouse fifteen minutes before HOTC races start and Cameron can tell immediately that something’s wrong. 

“What?” Cam asks. “What’s going on?” 

Tyler shakes his head very quickly, pulling off the sunglasses he’d borrowed from Cam because he forgot his at the dorm. 

“Do you feel sick?” Cameron prompts.

“No I—” Tyler starts. “There’s no good way for me to— Divya just kissed me.” 

Well that’s fine, Cameron thinks very stupidly, his need to be polite arriving at the station about three seconds before his emotions, which, while delayed, hit him hard enough that for a second he thinks he might throw up. 

“What? Are you sure?” 

Tyler looks at him incredulously. “Yeah I’m uh _pretty sure Cameron_!” 

“Alright, alright,” Cam says and Tyler immediately softens. 

“I’m not— I’m just freaked out. I’m sorry dude,” God Cam can handle a lot of things, could maybe even handle this if Tyler wasn’t looking at him like someone to pity. 

Camerom’s never said the words ‘I like Divya’ to Tyler in that order with that intention, but he figures it’s pretty much an open secret between them, ever since Tyler walked in on him looking at that photo of Divya from the summer. 

They hadn’t talked about it directly, but Tyler had not-so-subtly made a point of telling Cameron that he thought Divya was a really great guy. As if Cameron didn’t know this, as if he hadn’t spent the last three months falling asleep thinking about Divya’s eyebrows and trying to reconstruct his voice from memory so the moment he wakes up and Cam reads (and rereads) his emails before breakfast he can get them perfect. 

“Cam,” Tyler says, reaching out vaguely for him. 

“I can’t. We can’t talk about this right now. I need to focus.” 

“Cameron,” Tyler tries again. 

This is not happening. This is _not_ happening. 

“Tell me what happened,” Cameron says. “Tell me what actually _specifically_ happened.” 

“It’s not my fault I was just, like, standing there and he came over and I could tell he was all ansty and worked up. Like not normal Divya at all. And then he was like ‘this is for good luck,’ and he grabbed my face and just. Planted one on me.” 

“And?” 

“Uh, it was weird?” 

“No I mean what did you say?” 

“Nothing, he just kind of stopped and then immediately ran away.” Tyler nervously 

fiddling with his sunglasses. 

Cameron’s sunglasses. 

“Wait,” Cam says. “Those are my sunglasses—” 

“—You literally just said I could borrow them!—” 

“—I know I mean. Tyler, maybe Divya thought you were _me_.” The thought crashes through him like the endorphin high after a race, so much tension and strain giving way to a rush of calming joy. It’s possible. It’s entirely possible. 

Cameron expects Tyler to look relieved, but he just looks annoyed. 

“Oh what so Divya couldn’t _want_ to kiss me on purpose is that it?”

“I— What?”

“Like I’m so disgusting that he wouldn’t want to kiss me, what the fuck Cam.” 

Cameron balks at him. “You don’t even like guys, Tyler.” 

“Well maybe I could!” 

“You liked it then? When he kissed you?” 

Tyler considers this for a moment. “Maybe.” 

Cam presses the heels of his hands into his eyes, he’s not exactly sure when his life stopped being his life and became a farce put on by a very amateur theatre group, but he’s not exactly enjoying the show. 

“I’m just saying. It’s possible that because we’re in the exact same uniform right now and because you were literally wearing _my_ sunglasses, maybe, perhaps, Divya thought you were me. That’s _all_ I’m saying. This is not an affront on your attractiveness.” 

Tyler huffs annoyedly and Cameron takes a deep breath. “If it was really you. What are you going to do about it?” 

Tyler rubs a hand over his face, “I mean—” he starts and doesn’t finish because suddenly the door to the boathouse door is banging open and all five foot five of their coxswain Anthony is practically shaking in fury. 

“Hi what the _fuck_ are you doing in here! Just GOSSIPING!? We sure have a race in _fifteen minutes_ I swear to god!” 

So that’s a pin put in that conversation. 

They come first in all of their events and Cameron wonders if that’s a testament to all their training that they can still do that well under duress, or if they’re just trying that much harder to get the whole thing over with sooner so they can talk to Divya. 

Cam scans the crowd for him to no avail, but when he checks his phone he has a text. 

_Meet me at ur dorm when ur done_

Tyler got one too and Cameron tries, and fails, to not be disappointed about it. 

Divya’s waiting outside their room, and he won’t meet Cameron’s eye, but he’s not really looking at Tyler either, the three of them quiet as Cameron unlocks the dorm. 

Divya doesn’t take his jacket off, pacing restlessly for a moment as Tyler and Cameron wordlessly settle on opposite ends of their shoddy little futon couch. 

“I—” Divya starts, “I don’t think I can talk to both of you at once. Sorry.” 

“No that’s, that’s alright,” Cameron soothes immediately. 

Divya looks at the floor, “Um, Tyler could we like, talk in the hall or something?” 

“What? Who? Me?” Tyler says. “Uh, okay.” 

The dorm isn't really big enough for a private conversation. So that makes sense, it totally makes sense. Cameron thinks he might spontaneously develop a stomach ulcer, but at least it makes sense. Tyler gives him a little sympathetic look as he follows after Divya into the hall, shutting the door very very gently behind them. 

Cameron feels every second as he waits, moving from the futon to his bed, his desk, back to the futon, and then back to his desk again. Like where he’s sitting when Divya comes back in is going to be the deciding factor in whatever the fuck just happened. 

Normally, Cameron would comfort himself with the knowledge that whatever possible worst case scenario will be manageable. That really, the worst thing won’t be that bad. Only Cameron’s not sure if the worst case scenario in this case is Divya wanting to kiss Tyler and Tyler not feeling the same way, or if, in a crazy twist that seems to defy everything Cameron knows, Divya wanted to kiss Tyler and Tyler actually kind of wants him back. 

Cameron knows either way he loses Divya, and that is not something he can put a positive mangable spin on no matter how hard he tries. 

He’s already on his feet the moment he hears the door knob start to turn, and Divya comes in alone, which is possibly a good sign, possibly not. Cameron hovers as Divya closes the door behind him and then leans on it heavily, knees practically collapsing as he tips his head back and sighs loudly. 

“I was going to be suave you know,” Divya says, eyes on the ceiling. “I was going to be so cool and so _fucking_ suave,” he tilts his head down, meets Cam’s eye. “Of _all_ the days to give Tyler your sunglasses.” 

His voice is all whiny like a put out child and Cameron’s heart is about to jump out of his mouth and go tuck itself in Divya’s coat pocket. 

Cameron resists the urge to literally punch the air, even if Tyler’s gone, because it just seems a little bit tacky, but he does consider it. Instead he says, “You’re always suave.” 

“Right, sure. Nothing says suave like kissing the wrong twin because he was wearing a different pair of sunglasses,” Divya says, peeling himself off the back of Cameron’s door. 

“We do look very alike,” Cameron offers. 

“No you don’t. Not to me,” Divya says. 

A fragile silence pulses between them before Cameron says. “Uh, is Tyler okay?” 

“I think his ego might be a bit bruised but he’ll get over it.” 

“I mean I think it takes a special person to even broach the idea of a sexual identity crisis with Ty, so, you’re pretty powerful.” 

Divya snorts. “Yeah he said something along the lines of ‘if I were into it, and if you wanted me, we’d already be married.’” 

“Oh my god.” 

“He said he’d steer clear of the dorm for a little while though,” Divya says pointedly. 

“That’s good,” Cameron agrees and Divya gives him a look that Cam is deciding to take as ‘unimpressed but fond.’

“Look I hyped myself up for the last one, can you handle it this time?” 

“What?” 

“Clearly I can’t be responsible for our first kiss because when I tried I ended up with Tyler’s tongue in my mouth.” 

Cameron balks. “He used tongue!?” 

“That’s how I knew it wasn’t you,” Divya says. “You’re too classy for that.” 

“Yeah?” Cameron asks, invites. 

“Yeah,” Divya says, resettling against the door. 

“You think about that a lot?” He forces himself to sound nonchalant. 

“Only since I realized that finding one of the so-identical-I-couldn’t-tell-them-apart twins

_significantly_ more attractive was maybe a sign of something,” Divya says, watching Cameron cross the room towards him.

“Was this before or after you emailed me a shirtless photo of yourself?” 

“Technically after, but,” Divya shrugs, “I think I was onto something. You think I’d leave my spice rack to just anyone?” 

Cam reaches out for Divya’s waist under the layer of his jacket but overtop of the thin sweater he’s wearing and Divya’s whole centre of gravity shifts like he’s trying to imprint himself into Cameron’s palm. 

“Did you know you called me by accident in the summer?” If they’re putting things out in the open...

Divya nods. “Yeah I realized in the morning when I looked at my call logs.” 

“And?” 

“And what?” 

“The secret thing you didn’t want Tyler to tell me wasn’t about the blender was it?” 

“No,” Divya says very simply, refusing to elaborate and still saying everything. 

“I still think you’re suave,” Cameron says, putting himself firmly in Divya’s personal space. 

“Thanks,” Divya says, and pulls himself up a little so their mouths are closer, hands clutching at Cam’s triceps for leverage. He cocks his head at Cam challengingly and keeps his eyes open to watch until Cameron’s close enough for his breath to ghost across Divya’s mouth, eyes finally falling shut. As if he needed to watch to make sure Cam would really follow through. 

Divya makes this dreamy little satisfied noise when their mouths finally meet, soft and unhurried. Or at least it is at first, Divya abandoning his grip on Cameron’s arms to pull his face back to him when Cam tries to break off for too long. 

Cameron didn’t know it was possible to kiss in a way that was bossy, but Divya seems to have figured it out. 

“Do you want to sit?” Cameron says when Divya abandons his mouth to kiss at the underside of his jaw, the sharp sudden delight of teeth before Divya half drags Cam towards his own bed. Giving him an insistent shove in the middle of his chest for him to sit down. 

“I can hang your jacket up for you,” Cameron offers as Divya pulls said jacket off and throws it on the ground, stepping into the open space between Cam’s spread legs. Cameron reaches out for Divya’s hips, hands making contact with bare skin on one side where his sweater has rode up slightly. 

“What a gentleman,” Divya says, one hand reaching around to cradle the back of Cameron’s head, leaning in close again. 

“Hey, sorry real quick before we. Do this. I just need to know, for my own curiosity, whose idea was the blender thing?” 

Divya pulls back a little. “What?” 

“The cover story, about the blender? That was very creative with the whole ‘we got you an identical replacement one.’” 

Divya blinks at him. 

“Oh my god did you _actually_ break my blender and replace it with a doppleganger?” 

“Yeah they call that the old Winklevoss bait and switch,” Divya says and then climbs into Cameron’s lap, cleanly erasing from his mind any thought of defending his family honour. 

**Author's Note:**

> Back at it again at Krispy Kreme. Thank you so much to youshallnotfinditso and evol_love as always for their many skills which I (lovingly) exploit. Find me on tumblr where I'm also phonecallfromgod.


End file.
